Audacity Forum

Hello! I just recorded a mix on audacity and it came out sounding really bad lol. Sounds like the bass may be to high? Any thoughts on how to fix this?? I can upload the mix to hear exactly what im talking about
Thanks in advance!
V

Were you recording a live band? Those are famous for overloading the microphone and killing a recording. Once the data maxes out in an overload point or musical note, you can't some back in post production.

Mix the track down to mono, Tracks > Stereo Track to Mono. Then select four or five seconds and Export Selection as FLAC. Post it with the Upload Attachment tools at the bottom of this forum.

Koz

I recorded it straight from my mixer. Do I have to redo my dj mix? I hope not because it came out pretty solid

http://soundcloud.com/vincej23/first-mix
Heres my mix. Hopefully someone has an idea on how to fix it!

You recorded this into the Mic-In of your Windows laptop, didn't you? That connection was designed for one of these...

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/PCHeadset.jpg

The mixer output is stereo (did you notice you only have the left channel in your headphones?) and is much too powerful for that connection. I don't think there is any good way to rescue the music. It's overloaded and clipping, not just bass heavy.

(I want to hear the finished mix, by the way)

We usually recommend a UCA-202 for a mixer or any high-level, stereo connection.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/UCA202.jpg

I'm guessing from the music. Did I hit it?

Koz

You hit it right on the nail lol. I just picked up that adapter. Now do i Just hit record like i did before?

You have to make sure that your computer is seeing the UCA-202 in Windows Control Panels. If everything is OK, you can open Audacity and click once in the red record meters and they will wake up and monitor the input signal without sending Audacity into full record.

You need to have both bouncing red meters and blue waves to get a good recording when you finally do go into record.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/Audacity1_record.jpg

You may also need to plug your headphones into the UCA-202 and not the computer.
Koz

i got the meters working n all but when i record it starts clipping and the bass seems heavy.. i turned down the bass on my mixer at a point where i can still here enough bass to mix but doesnt seem to fix the problem.. any idea why this may be happening? thanks for the all help btw!

Are you sure the connection to the mixer is going up and down? Some mixers have Tape Out connections that don't follow the master faders and some don't follow the system equalizer, either. Do that trick where you click on the Audacity red recording meters and make sure all the mixer faders work like you think they're supposed to. Run them way up and down and see if the show goes up and down, too.

A common problem is everybody thinks they have to produce the final mix right then and there. That leads to all sorts of clipping and overload problems. You produce the work with the maximum musical peak reaching -3 to -6. You can apply volume compressors and equalizers and change the levels in post production.

And try to keep the conversation on the forum. Thanx.

Koz

Finally got it to work! heres the finished mix http://soundcloud.com/vincej23/asparagus-rave-sounds
Thanks for the help kozikowski!